


Their First Dance

by Fanfic_is_a_sin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fist Fights, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 01:24:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3918007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfic_is_a_sin/pseuds/Fanfic_is_a_sin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A younger Erwin is on loan to the Military Police, working to stop a ring of underground pit fights. Under cover as one of the fighters, Erwin's managed to get himself into the biggest fight to be held yet, where he expects backup to come running. However, when the Military Police seem mysteriously late, Erwin finds himself forced to go through with the fight against one of the best up-and-comer's in the underground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Their First Dance

Erwin's first step was greeted with a cheer so loud that he wondered how the Military Police could possibly have missed it for so long. The air stung, heated by the impassioned uproar of hundreds of people so desperate for distraction from the razor's edge on which they lived that they never even bothered wondering what their money was really paying for. He sighed. Addock was late.

Raising his right hand to the crowd briefly as he walked forward was all it took for them to well up with another cacophonous howl. He'd crafted his persona carefully. The identity they'd tried to have him pass of was hollow, little more than a straw man waiting to catch the embers of suspicion and kindle them into his own funeral pyre. But this was the assignment he'd been given. He only regretted, sometimes, that he couldn't bring himself to ignore the threat outside the Wall. He could have been good at not being a soldier.

Each step made it more clear that Addock wasn't just giving last minute tactical advice. The mediocre officer with whom Erwin was placed for the operation really had no place in what was vaunted as the most elite force humanity had to offer. His investigation into the fighting rings of the underground was mired in blunders that were too obviously made on purpose. Erwin glanced to the side, a broad-shouldered man catching his eye. A figure was sitting next to him, whispering in his ear. His face blanched, and he quickly stood up and began making his way out of the building with the same limp he remembered in one of Addock's men. 

_Ah. Pruning out the trash that belongs to them before throwing the rest away._

The building itself wasn't all that impressive, which Erwin was thankful for. If it had been more than the dusty, dilapidated storehouse, he might have been sick. All the need inside the Wall. All the people who could have lived here, even. Erwin wished that his work for the past few weeks would mean that the space would go to a more useful purpose, but his hope had been tempered by practicality before he'd even joined the military.

He stepped up onto the small platform, encircled by what looked like rusted wire of some sort, where his opponent sat, waiting. He had no illusions about the Military Police. But all things aside, Erwin still did have hope.

The man sitting on the stool on the opposite side of the ring wasn't what he expected. By all accounts, he was supposed to be facing the best fighter that the crime magnate who operated these cesspits had. Across from him, however, was a short man. He had a strange calm about him. In all of the preliminary fights Erwin had gone through to make it to the larger event, his opponents were rough men, of course, but brittle. He could see the cracks in them. It was what he was good at. Everyone had weak points. Few people had the eye for them. But this man...Erwin frowned. He was familiar. His face carried the same weathered armor that Erwin pieced together on his own each morning. Perhaps his was more natural than Erwin's, even.

"Be careful, Levi," one of the dirt-choked men in the other man's corner said in a low growl. "this one doesn't look like the usual ticket."

Levi, his arms crossed, looked up at Erwin, his expression just a little too interested to call it neutral. He was silent, as if waiting for Erwin to introduce himself. After a moment, Erwin nodded to him once, slowly.

Levi tilted his head. "His eyebrows intimidate me," he said, his voice even and tranquil. His eyes never left Erwin.

For his part, Erwin managed not to show how impressed he was with Levi's composure when he turned back to his own corner man. A boney figure with loose skin and two missing fingers on his right hand, "Rats" was not very good at his job. The rumor was that his name came from a habit of eating rats after he lost his fingers for stealing a leg of meat from the wrong person. He knew very little about fighting, as far as Erwin could tell.

"Recommendations?" Erwin asked. He had grown strangely fond of the man, if only because he never showed any pretense of being more than he was.

"Punching them in the face usually works well. This'n looks short. Be careful. Fuckers'll kick your shins."

"Sound advice." Erwin conceded.

Rats bit at the fingernails of his left hand, his usual sign that he was done talking. Erwin turned back toward the center of the ring as a man in what passed for a suit in this place stepped up to give the introductions. He crossed his arms.

"Good people of-" the announcer's raspy, thin voice choked off into a fit of coughing. He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, his voice was deep and booming. "Good people of the city! Are you ready for a fight?" The obligatory cheer rose from the crowd like a snake rising to strike.

"Well, then. Let's get this go-oing! On this side of the ring," his hand rose to point a thick finger at Erwin. "A newcomer who's proven himself in the past few weeks to be quite the challenger, winning all of his fights by injuring his opponents too badly to continue. He's gained quite a following, but tonight he'll face his biggest challenge yet! Standing at 188 centimeters, and weighing in at 92 kilograms, I give you...Eeerwin...Smiiiith!"

Using his real name had been a highly inadvisable choice, but Erwin insisted on it. Well, it was more that he simply did it without asking. That was often far more effective than insisting. He _disliked_ lying. He wasn't here to lie.

"And his opponent, perhaps the greatest fighter in the sport today. He doesn't look like much, but as we all know...he's never lost a fight! Standing at an even 160 centimeters and weighing in at 65 kilograms, I give you the current fight champion...Leeeeevi!"

Erwin tilted his head. They hadn't announced a last name. It shouldn't have mattered to him, but something about the short man had pricked his interest.

"Try not to bleed too much," Levi said, his tone almost bored. "I hate having to clean blood off of myself."

Erwin couldn't help the smile. The young man was in for a surprise if he assumed he could win. Erwin hadn't been happy about having to injure his other opponents so severely, but he needed to make himself a sensation. And they hadn't exactly made it hard for him.

"Aren't you a little young to be here?" Erwin asked, the announcer finishing whatever speech he usually gave.

"To an old man like you, perhaps everyone appears too young," was the reply. Erwin frowned. He didn't look that old.

"Leeeeeeeeet's fight!" the announcer cried, chopping his arm down between them dramatically.

Erwin raised his hands, his right curled into a striking fist, his left open to deflect.

Levi put his hands on his hips, staring him down. Erwin raised an eyebrow. Perhaps this was part of his gimmick. It didn't matter. If he wanted to play games, it would only save Erwin the trouble of having to hurt him. One good punch should put him out.

Erwin fired his first forward like a piston, even, precise. Levi seemed surprised, his eyes widening. His hand was fast, but it came just short of blocking the blow. Clearly, he was used to slower fighters.

Erwin's knuckles crunched into his cheek with a jarring crack, and a tiny spurt of blood spewed upward from a split it Levi's lip. But other than that, the smaller man just sort of...stepped back. Levi shook his head. Erwin shook his hand. Damn. His head was...dense.

Levi spit between them, a flash of anger registering in his eyes when he saw the blood. Erwin blinked, for the first time in a long time genuinely stunned.That was his mistake. Levi's body pivoted, and before Erwin had time to react, he was bolting full-speed. He hit Erwin squarely, his bony shoulder slugging him right in the diaphragm with all the force of an anvil fired from a cannon. So, it wasn't just his head.

Erwin's vision flashed crimson, and he felt his feet leave the ground as he was slammed backward into the flimsy wire. Finally, his mind shifted into a sudden spider's web of action and information. Battle reflex, some might call it. To him, it was a dance that he choreographed one step at a time. He brought his left arm up, curling it around Levi's bare back and grabbing his left shoulder. Using his size to his advantage, Erwin slung Levi to the side as he stepped back towards the center of the ring. Levi was heavier than he looked, and didn't go as far as Erwin wanted him to, but he still stumbled into the wire with a chorus of ringing.

The cheers rose up around them. They always threw Erwin off. When he'd learned to dance, quiet was strictly enforced. Cheers were certainly not forthcoming. It was a show then, too, but he was expected to consider himself a natural part of it.

Levi was back on him again, throwing short, snappy punches. Erwin blocked a few, but once he realized that Levi was just feeling him out, he let them land. Not waiting for his opponent to surprise him with anything else, he stepped right into Levi's next jab, throwing his shoulder out. Usually, the move caught people in the chest, but Levi took it right to the forehead. His head snapped back. For a moment, Erwin felt a pang of fear that he'd broken his neck, until Levi's head swung right back.

Erwin Smith had never been headbutted in the chin before. As his vision blurred and he felt himself fall backwards on his ass, he sincerely hoped he never would again. He reflexively fired a defensive heel-kick, which caught Levi in the shin, taking him down to one knee. _How's that, Rats?_

Erwin blinked to clear his vision, and Levi was already up. he rolled out of the way of a sweeping kick, then rolled the other way back into a crouch. Levi snarled at him. He sprung up, fists lined with Levi's chin. To his credit, Levi easily deflected Erwin's right overhand with two hands. He really couldn't be blamed for catching the left underhook to the gut. Few pit fighters thought as thoroughly as Erwin did.

He was sure that would put Levi out of the fight. Sure enough, the other man crumpled, arms curled around his stomach. Erwin wiped sweat from his face, only to find his hand stained red when he pulled it away.

"You really are good," he remarked.

He never saw the kick that took his legs out from under him. For a second time, he felt his rear slam into the less-than-soft flooring of the platform. Levi's second kick, he did see. He spun it, his foot swinging toward Erwin's face with a speed and form that would have broken his jaw...if Levi hadn't stopped his foot about a centimeter from Erwin's throat.

He held his pose for a long moment, with Erwin sitting there in confusion. Finally, he brought his foot back down, nodding to something behind Erwin.

"Your friends in the Military Police finally decided to save you from embarrassing yourself," he said. His breath was heavy, but he tried to keep his blase, unaffected tone. Erwin looked over a shoulder. Sure enough, the crowd was already running from the uniformed soldiers pouring into the building. At their head, Addock walk leisurely toward the ring. Erwin looked back at Levi, who was taking a drink of water from a canteen, calmly waiting with him in the ring. The announcer and his corner men had already taken off, as had Rats.

"You knew." Erwin pushed himself to his feet.

Levi shrugged. "Nothing lasts forever."

Addock was stepping into the ring behind him, flanked by two members of the Military Police. "Not too bright, this one. Take him in."

Erwin shook his head. "Wait."

He turned to face Addock, who eyed him with a raised eyebrow. "Wait?"

Erwin nodded. "You said I'd be doing you a favor, helping out the Military Police with this...mission."

Addock shrugged. "Yes, I suppose I might have used those words.

Erwin thought for a moment, then set his shoulders. "I think I'd like to use that favor now, Sir."

Addock looked between him and Levi, clearly perplexed. "In relation to this...person?"

Erwin nodded a second affirmative. He turned and eyed Levi, who was sitting on his stool, staring at him evenly.

"Yes. I think I might have a better place for him than a cell."

Levi raised an eyebrow, and Erwin could tell that was a gesture of intense surprise from him. Perhaps he was surprised because Erwin wasn't making a very sensible choice. Perhaps he just wasn't used to police who had more than one option for people like him. Either way, Erwin would work around his distrust.

Erwin Smith knew how to dance, and the first thing he was taught was this: when you find a partner worth dancing with, you stick with them until the end of the dance. Their first few steps were rough ones. Even so, Erwin couldn't help the feeling that he and Levi would have plenty of time to work on it in the days to come.


End file.
